ORANGUTAN Alert

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Search in The Statesman Web Tuesday, June 13 2006

 

Editorial

 

Letters to the editor

 

 

Malaysia’s orangutan

Sir, ~ Martin Hickman’s article, “Orangutan alert” (8th Day, 28 May), reproduced

from The Independent, is a sad misrepresentation of the current state of the

Malaysian palm oil industry and the efforts taken by the country to protect its

wildlife. He has basically recycled old allegations. He quotes Ed Matthew,

corporate responsibility campaigner for Friends of the Earth. At a recent

symposium on sustainable resource development in London, Mr Matthew admitted

that the Friends of the Earth report published in 2005 and claiming that palm

oil was the cause of deforestation actually focused on a neighbouring country,

not Malaysia.

Having spearheaded extensive research and development in oil palm cultivation,

Malaysia has advocated sustainable farming practices. It has struck a balance

between commercial and economic needs and preservation of the environment.

Malaysian oil palm plantations are not a threat to orangutan habitats. This

endangered species enjoys full protection.

Today, palm oil occupies only four million hectares of Malaysia’s land area. The

overall “green cover” including untouched forests and agriculture areas,

occupies a stuning 76 per cent of Malaysia’s land mass of 32 million hectares.

The palm oil industry is trying to provide a sustainable edible oil supply.

Malaysia takes its commitment to conserve the habitats of the orangutan and

other indigenous wildlife seriously. It has launched a Palm Oil Wildlife

Conservation Fund with an anticipated outlay of RM 20 million. For a small

country that is a big gesture. Malaysia is the world’s largest producer and

exporter of palm oil.

~ Yours, etc., Yusof Basiron,

CEO, Malaysian Palm Oil Council,

Malaysia, 8 June.

 

 

Wildlife In Danger: ORANGUTAN Alert

 

Britain is thought to be the biggest consumer of palm oil in the European Union

~ the biggest importer ~ followed by China and India, and its source is driving

Asia’s only great ape to the brink of extinction. Martin Hickman reports

 

FOREST destruction driven by demand for a cheap ingredient found in everyday

products from shampoo to biscuits is being blamed by conservationists for

contributing to the extinction of the orangutan, Asia’s only great ape.

One in 10 mass-produced foods on shelves across the world is estimated to

contain the bulking agent and preservative palm oil but supermarkets and food

manufacturers in Britain have been accused of doing too little to ensure their

supplies are not threatening the survival of one of the world’s best-loved

mammals.

An estimated 5,000 orangutans are killed each year in Malaysia and Indonesia by

the burning of vast tracts of virgin forest to supply the world’s growing taste

for palm oil.

Roads driven deep into the plantations give access to previously inaccessible

areas for poachers, who kill orangutan mothers and sell their babies as pets to

Asian families.

WWF, formerly the World Wildlife Fund, estimates that 80 per cent of the

orangutan habitat has been lost over the past 20 years. Experts warn that at

current rates of deforestation the orangutan will be extinct in the wild in just

12 years. Its disappearance would set a dismal precedent for the survival of

other endangered animals like the polar bear and the tiger.

Dr Willie Smits, of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, says, “The rate of

loss of the orangutan has never been greater than in the last three years and

palm oil plantations take the brunt of the blame.” Conservationists say that

Britain could do more to combat the problem and want the government to enshrine

a responsibility to the environment in the Company Law Reform Bill. Of 96 UK

companies Friends of the Earth wrote to urging their cooperation on sustainable

palm oil, only 18 replied.

Amid a postcard campaign from the public, five major food retailers — Sainsbury,

Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, the Co-op, and Asda — have joined a not-for-profit

organisation aiming to clean up the industry.

But Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, which laid out its environmental

credentials earlier this month, and the store chains, Morrisons and Iceland,

have refused to join the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, whose membership

costs £1,300 a year.

The international body has agreed on what counts as sustainable palm oil and

hopes to certify ethically-produced supplies within two years.

The threat facing the orangutan is laid bare in a report, The Oil for Ape

Scandal, by five wildlife groups led by Friends of the Earth.

Derived from an old Malay word meaning Old Man of the Forest, orangutans are the

only great ape (the others are the gorilla, chimpanzee and bonobo) living

outside Africa.

They have an opposable toe, allowing them to swing between trees with all four

limbs and are the most tree-dwelling of all the great apes. But their very

dependence on the forests makes them vulnerable.

According to the Friends of the Earth, there are now fewer than 60,000 left and

the United Nations lists the Bornean orangutan is as “endangered” and the

Sumatran orangutan as “critically endangered”. Friends of the Earth says that

year after year satellite pictures have shown vast fires raging through their

habitat to meet the global demand for hardwood and palm oil.

Palm oil is the reason given for chainsawing the rainforests but companies can

harvest valuable hardwoods in the four-year wait for the palm plants to mature.

The despoilation displaces indigenous people, some of whom are killed, and is

often sanctioned by corrupt officials even though plantations could be grown on

other already deforested land.

According to Transparency International, Indonesia has a “severe corruption

problem”.

Demand is growing quickly for palm oil because of the cheapness and versatility

of the saturated fat, which is so thick it does not need to be hydrogenated and

so does not contain harmful trans fats. It can be used in a variety of food and

household products.

Britain is thought to be the biggest consumer of palm oil in the European Union,

the biggest importer, followed by China and India.

Friends of the Earth is not calling for a consumer boycott because the

prevalence of palm oil would make such a call almost unworkable; it is often

listed as “vegetable oil” on labels. But it wants retailers such as Tesco —

which uses palm oil in its own brand products from flans to gravy — to do more.

In its defence, Tesco says it is working with its three big suppliers of palm

oil to secure sustainable sources. A spokeswoman says the grocer is also seeking

to identify the sourcing of the “small amounts” of palm oil which do not come

from its three major suppliers.

But Ed Matthew, corporate responsibility campaigner for Friends of the Earth,

says, “How on earth can Britain’s biggest retailer — with 30 per cent of the

market and profits of £2.2 billion a year — not take this seriously? Maybe it is

arrogance. Maybe they think they are too important to be told what to do.” He

says orangutans are an indicator of the health of the forests.

“They are a magnificent species that we share 98 per cent of our DNA with. They

are so symbolic in the conflict between man and nature. And if we can’t save the

orangutan what hope do we have of saving the natural environment. The next 10

years are crucial.” — The Independent, London.